You can plug any of 13 types of memory cards
directly from a digital camera into the printer, then print photos in
six colors and sizes without using a computer. The resolution can be set
to a stunning 5760x1440 dots per inch, considerably higher than most
digital cameras can shoot.

But, as they say on those late-night TV ads,
that's not all you get:

The printer has a small preview window that
allows you to see which picture you're about to print. The size of the
print can be selected from a built-in menu that lets you scroll and then
push a button. All this is done without use of the computer.

With the computer, the software enables
double-sided printing, watermarks, fit-to-page, poster sizes and
borderless printing. This last option means you can "bleed," as
professionals call it, the print to the edge of the page.

The printer also comes with a special tray
for holding CD or DVD disks that can accept printing on their face side.
You can find these at almost any office or computer supply store. Using
the computer, select a picture and whatever text you want to use for the
face side of the disk. We tried this and it worked perfectly; the
selected picture covered nearly all of the disk surface and was as sharp
as any photograph.

All in all, this is the most remarkable
photo printer we've seen, and one of the most remarkable printers of any
type. It is compatible with Windows and Macintosh computers, but also
can be used on its own. The photo results are as high quality as
anything we've received from a commercial studio.

The Epson Stylus Photo R320 has a list price
of $200, but we used Nextag (www.nextag.com)
and found it for around $175 from several sellers. Each of the six color
cartridges can be replaced individually, and we found the color ones for
$5.95 each by searching with
www.froogle.com; black cartridges were $11.95.

For an extra $70 you can buy a Bluetooth
adapter that allows printing photos transmitted from Bluetooth-enabled
cameras and camera phones. In general, you should know, Bluetooth works
only over short distances.

The Numbers Report

·
Online retail sales were up nearly 20 percent this year compared with
2003. The biggest jump was in sales of toys and video games, up nearly
50 percent.

The predicted demise of Internet business,
widely reported after stocks in these companies went down the drain in
the bear market of 2000, has been proven wrong. In fact, it was always
wrong, and Internet sales are certain to keep increasing. The World Wide
Web has everything going for it: no crowds, no parking problems, instant
price comparisons, no sales taxes for many purchases and speedy
delivery. Did we miss something?

·
Sales of photo-enabled cell phones recently surpassed those of regular
cell phones. You could say they are now the regular cell phones. In the
very near future such phones are expected to be sold with tiny built-in
hard drives, capable of storing lots of messages, photos and Web site
visits, and even telephoto lenses for surreptitious picture snapping.

The Hottest New Game

There's a common saying that "whatever is
old is new again." How about "whatever is ancient"? The game drawing the
most enthusiastic praise right now is Children of the Nile, for Windows,
a kind of Sim City of ancient Egypt. Build an ancient city, watch it
being constructed, live in it.

This is not a Sim City game, but an entirely
new construction from Myelin Media (www.myelinmedia.com);
$40 from retailers like EB Games (www.ebgames.com).
Players nearly unanimously say you have never seen anything like it, and
it's great.

3D is Back!

Want to play video games in 3D? We're
talking about the 3D Vision System for Windows from
www.edimensional.com.

This is a set of eyeglasses, but not a pair
of cardboard spectacles with red and blue cellophane like you sometimes
get as handouts for movies or code books; it's more complicated than
that.

The eyeglasses come with a device that
connects between the computer's video port and your monitor cable. It's
called a dongle, and it alters the computer's video display, splitting
it into a color shift similar to the old 3D movies. Software included in
the package completes the picture, so to speak.

The special eyeglasses have a thin cable
that plugs into the same dongle that's altering the video display. This
synchronizes the glasses with the display's color shift. The result is a
three-dimensional effect remarkably similar to the very expensive Evans
& Sutherland computers used for military and scientific simulations.

The manufacturer, eDimensional Inc., claims
it works with almost every PC game made. The list price is $70, and the
glasses have received enthusiastic reviews from users.